Image processing is important in a wide variety of different applications, and such processing may involve two-dimensional (2D) images, three-dimensional (3D) images, or combinations of multiple images of different types. For example, a 3D image of a spatial scene may be generated in an image processor using triangulation based on multiple 2D images captured by respective cameras arranged such that each camera has a different view of the scene. Alternatively, a 3D image can be generated directly using a depth imager such as a structured light (SL) camera or a time of flight (ToF) camera. These and other 3D images, which are also referred to herein as depth images, are commonly utilized in machine vision applications such as gesture recognition.
In typical conventional arrangements, raw image data from an image sensor is usually subject to various preprocessing operations. Such preprocessing operations may include, for example, contrast enhancement, histogram equalization, noise reduction, edge highlighting and coordinate space transformation, among many others. The preprocessed image data is then subject to additional processing needed to implement gesture recognition or another machine vision application.